Tom Shelley

TONIGHT AT 6:30 PM join us for an improvised version of PVP Circuit and help us rebuild our local community brick by brick. I still can't believe I get to work in the video game industry. My 6-year-old would laugh, and then cry once she realized what it means to work in the creative technology sector. That's why IMO everyone could use some levity during these unprecedented times. Join us for a fun evening to raise funds for the Trevor Project. Event link >>> https://lnkd.in/g7tBuP6d Frequently Asked Questions: What if I can't attend the event? - If you can't make it, please consider purchasing a ticket to help us raise money for charity or get one on behalf of someone impacted by layoffs. What if I want to join but can't justify the cost? - If you want to join but find the cost prohibitive, DM me and we'll make it happen (see point above). Do I have to pitch at the event? - No, you don't have to pitch if you prefer to observe. It’s a great way to see how it's done. Will there be another event like this? - We plan to host our community again, but I can't specify if this event will be the focus. #gamesindustry #event #comedy <3

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🎮 Want a job in the video game industry? 🎮 Begin with the end in mind.* ➡ When you drive to work do you just turn left or right based on how you feel that day? 😅 (I hope you left extra early that day) ➡ When you gather data for a project, do you grab monthly active users, popular breakfast items and breeds of dog? 🤐 (This report might be fun but your boss will not be happy) ➡ When you schedule a doctor appointment, do you call random numbers in the phone book? 🙃 The same applies to...well...applying for jobs. ❔ Do you look at the minimum requirements for a job or do you click easy apply on cool titles? (Although, I might as well shoot my shot for Game Director) ❔ Do you update your resume with your most relevant experience when you apply? What is your desired outcome? Work backwards and you'll see at least some of the steps in a path to get there. This is not easy to do, because there is no perfect way to be the best fit for a job. Everyone's journey is different. What steps have you taken to get to your goal or how have you been successful in your journey? *One possible end goal pictured #Letsgetyouhired #RecruiterAdvice

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I interviewed our Casting Director and this was the clear takeaway... Voice Actors often ask me "how can I break into video games work." I thought this advise was brilliant 👇 - Actors who are also active gamers seem to get cast in games a lot! - However, Casting Directors aren't specifically looking for this - These actors tend to have a great understanding of the material - They instinctively know how a line or an effort should be performed - They have an enthusiasm & passion for the work - They are often easier to direct and are familiar with the language I am by no means suggesting an actor has to be a gamer to be a voice actor in games! But, if this is an area of the industry an actor wants to get into... Consider getting into the industry via this area... Do those last two lines make sense? I was trying to be clever! #VoiceActing #GameAudio #Develop2024

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🕹Today in Gaming History!🎮 20 years ago today Spider-man 2 released for PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, and Game Boy Advance from Treyarch, The Fizz Factor, Digital Eclipse Entertainment Partners, and Activision, in association with Marvel Entertainment and Sony Pictures Entertainment. I remember being absolutely floored with this game on release, a must have! Played so much of it and the other movie games. It's great that we're still getting Spider-man games, and even more recently got another Spider-man 2 (although unrelated to the movies, aside from in-game skins) from Insomniac Games. #TiGH #GamingHistory #Gaming #History #Spiderman2 #Spiderman #Treyarch #TheFizzFactor #DigitalEclipse #Activision #Marvel #Sony #Movie #Action #Adventure #Games #Game #VideoGames #VideoGame #GamesIndustry #VideoGameIndustry

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I was asked, "How will Simply Sweet Games raise the bar for the industry?" The challenges are clear: frequent layoffs, inaccessibility, and a significant lack of diversity. Too often, games are just a side note in business strategies focused on short-term gains at the expense of passionate, underpaid newcomers. That’s why at Simply Sweet Games, we are committed to creating change. Our motivation stems not from greed, but from a vision to transform the gaming industry to include more diverse perspectives. We are actively addressing the diversity gap by creating games that cater to and celebrate women, who represented nearly half of all gamers in the U.S. in 2023. This market isn’t a niche—it’s a major segment that deserves better representation. I wake up and feel amazed at how this has become my full-time focus. We uphold sustainable hiring practices and foster an inclusive environment where everyone can contribute and succeed. We aim to redefine industry standards with principles of honesty, respect, and support—not just for our products, but for our people too. #DiversityinGames #Equity #InclusiveHiring #GameIndustry #WomenInGaming #womenwhowork #SimplySweetGames

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🕹Today in Gaming History!🎮 40 years ago today King's Quest released for PC from Sierra On-Line and IBM. #TiGH #GamingHistory #Gaming #History #KingsQuest #Sierra #IBM #PC #Adventure #Games #Game #VideoGames #VideoGame #GamesIndustry #VideoGameIndustry

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👶 Game producers = great parents… ? 🎮 Problem-Solving: Working with different partners/audiences with varying comm methods. 💬 Empathy/Sympathy: Seeing the world through other viewpoints. Interpreting signals! 🧘‍♂️ Stress Management: Resilience in the face of constant pivots & uncertainty… Are you a creating clarity or chaos when having to clean 💩? 📅 Organization: Scheduling routines and adjusting when your plan goes south. Have a mitigation? That helps! Game production = solid parenting prep! 🌟👾🍼 #parenting #chaos💩 #empathy

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Game developers - job opportunities ✅ Currently 20+ open roles, with more on the way ✅ Remote and in-office roles ✅ Triple AAA talent at the helm Archetype Entertainment Details in original post. #jobs #gamedev #jobsingaming #gamedevjobs #careers #videogamejobs #nowhiring #gameDevelopment #GameIndustry #GameJobs #GameProduction #RemoteJobs #RemoteWork #Hiring #Jobs #JobOpening #JobOpportunity #Hiring

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"Required: X titles shipped" I've been involved in a few conversations lately with aspiring or junior developers who are frustrated that so many job descriptions require shipped titles. It gets even more difficult when a JD requires specific types of games shipped. These job seekers become more infuriated to find out that a lot of recruiters or hiring managers don't really count their game jam titles or solo games as "shipped" for purposes of these roles. Why is that? What exactly are hiring managers looking for here? Does it even matter? To answer that last question first: yes. It matters. First off, let's be clear on a couple of things here. As a general rule, you shouldn't be seeing shipped title requirements in true entry level positions. In those cases, any experience is better than no experience, so you should call out your jam, student, or solo games whenever you don't have anything else to show (or just call them out anyway if you're still relatively new or you're particularly proud of something you've worked on or built). But the reason you see a lot of jobs asking for shipped titles is less about the end result and more about showing that you've got experience working in a particular environment. If I'm asking, it's because I want to know that you can work on a team in the first place. You've been through the process already and have gone through the reviews and planning sessions and discussions that you simply wouldn't get building a game on your own or even in a quick jam. I've been through this a lot, with games that shipped and those that unfortunately did not. I've seen it on tiny teams where we could fit everyone in a single room and the entire schedule took months to teams which numbered in the hundreds across continents with multiyear schedules and the differences are very real. I've seen how different it can be in having to ship a boxed game through first party submissions or maintaining a liveops MMO that only existed on PC or mobile. Different processes. Different tools. Different methodologies. Different scales. I know how rough the market is out there. I know it seems hopeless at times and utterly unfair. I know it can really hurt to find a role you think you're just perfect for but then you see they want "shipped titles" experience or you need to have "worked on AAA teams" or "must have liveops experience" and it just doesn't make sense. Your challenge is in trying to show how you have the skills without the direct experience, while also competing against others (potentially dozens of others) who already have both. I wish the process could be easier for you. At the least, I hope I've added some context from the other side of the table here.

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Amazing list of practical game design principles from Warren Spector, one of our industry's great. Appreciate how he frames some of the magic we feel playing his games. Can't wait to play his next one! Wonderful peek into Warren's design mind. His Deus Ex is stuff of legends. While I'll argue that there are operable definitions of fun (humbly suggest The 4 Keys to Fun ;) I agree wholeheartedly that a team needs more than a single word "make it Fun" to guide the design. In fact that's kind of the whole point. In our extensive player research players favorite games support multiples of their favorite play styles. From a Psychology perspective it's vital for an exceptional game to offer players new playstyles. The exploration of novelty, cause and effect relationships, and especially new kinds of strategy to get to a goal are vital to what human beings (and all mammals) call play. Definitely worth a read! Here's a list of company values for Warren's company Other Side also worth a look https://lnkd.in/gpq-qusR

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🎮 Want a job in the video game industry? 🎮 📅 It's July. We made it through the first half of 2024. Are you looking at your resume/skills/experience for the second half of the year and 2025? Are you bookmarking your favorite career sites in case the perfect job opens up and you're ready to apply? *cough* https://lnkd.in/gmapUg36 *cough* What skills are needed in your line of work for your next role? Are you taking any classes/courses or applying to tangentially related roles (i.e. not the dream job yet) to build those skills? In your last interview, was there a skill could you not explain to the best of your ability or are you unsure of that you could learn more about? Your dream job won't always come tomorrow, but are you preparing in case it opens in a week? A month? January 2025? Any questions? Put them in the comment section and we'll see what we can do to help. #startpreparingnow #Letsgetyouhired

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So with the amount of layoffs in games, its created a large bed of variables to look at.. yeah I'm not a scientist but trying my best to sound smart. Recent lunch with some friends out of work in games, had an interesting convo. All 3 of them are artist and they all applied to the same position at a company. They had found out after they applied they all were in competition and luckily they were in friendly spirits about it. Anyways, two of them got interviews. In the initial talks with the recruiter/hiring manager they were given a salary range. Only two of them got that far in conversation. Of those two, the range was different even though they had similar experience. They compared the responses they got and it was really odd how they were different, same person but different attitude in the way they were replying to them. Also in the interviews, the duties and role was slightly different, like the one with the lower pay range was basically being given a heavier responsibility description. Same interviewer too so a bit odd perhaps how the convo changed per person. The 3rd person, they were being notified once a week or so about progress and to don't worry, we'll get in touch soon with more info. Well.. at the end, none of them got the job, or feedback of why. The 3rd person just got ghosted without an update or reply asking for an update. I feel for them, hence giving them a lunch to vent, its stressful as all heck to interview, not wanting to put all your hope into a job that could or could not happen. And then to see that there are differences and inconsistency on the whole process. Some might actually say the 3rd person had it the best since they never got their hopes set too high but at the same time the ego can take a hit on not being asked to talk. Thoughts, anyone currently interviewing/looking for a job have some experiences to share?

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Such a sad situation for Arkane Studios Austin. No team deserves to be shutdown like this. I played a lot of Redfall and enjoyed it. This isn't all corporate greed and stock prices; we as fans have a role in this as well. I'm not saying that we shouldn't critique or call out unkept promises during development. Far too often when we criticize, we lose the human element behind these large projects. Those at Arkane, Bethesda Game Studios, タンゴゲームワークス（Tango Gameworks）, this is not your fault. This situation does not define you or your talents. Move forward when you are ready, and let's help you find your new home. We are stronger together! https://lnkd.in/gjyF6F6t - Unknown Worlds https://sds.com/careers - Striking Distance https://lnkd.in/gmjKux5M - KRAFTON and PUBG #myplesha #gamedevjobs #KRAFTON #gamesindustry #hiring

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🎯 Strategies For Weapon Field Recording Success 🎯 https://lnkd.in/gNJxPJsi 🔫 Recording gun sound effects is a big undertaking. I know that 20 years ago when I was starting out it felt like an unapproachable goal. So when Mac Owens found a gun range near Austin for us to record at I jumped at the chance! If you know me at all then you know I love documentation, so I also decided to thoroughly document the entire process to help make this easier for other audio folks to go record their own weapon sessions! 📽 In this video, you'll find invaluable insights on Pre-Planning, 32 bit vs. 24 bit recording, setting recording levels for loud sources, running a large field recording session, and preparing a Reaper DAW session for the files. It's 40 minutes of material so I also broke it down into chapters for targeted learning 🎓 Please share with your audio contacts. I hope you find it helpful. Now, go record something cool! #FieldRecording #SoundDesign RECORDISTS: Chris Carroll, Ryan Stunkel, James Barker​, Mac Owens, Andrew Corbitt, Dietrich Dice, Aaron Brown​. SHOOTER: Karl Rehn.

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Navigating the complexities of porting to Apple Vision Pro? Unity's guide offers 6 essential tips to streamline the process, from leveraging Unity's AR Foundation to optimizing your app's performance on Vision Pro. Check out the full guide for expert insights and practical advice to ensure your app shines on Apple's latest platform - https://lnkd.in/dCcxYKem. #AR #VR #AppleVisionPro #Unity #realtime3D

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Mini Gear Grinder... not a crazy one, just a mini one... Candidates: when replying to Posts that have jobs listed, multiple companies / Games Studios, etc. within them. A comment of "I am interested" does not do you much good. A comment of "I am interested in the following role at XYZ company" is however helpful. Seeing so many of these & I love that you're interested in the roles posted, but which ones? Help the Recruiter or the people out that are putting the resources in front of you & let them know what you're interested in. ⚙ The job? Which one, we have 5+ listed. ⚙ The company? Which one, as some of these posts list 5+ organizations. ⚙ The person posting? Let's keep it PC / PG here people, I'm not advocating for weirdness 😝 I'm referring to a conversation or asking for help where you need it potentially. Don't be creepy, please do not be creepy! ⚙ The products they make? Etc., etc. Identify a bit deeper... Help them help you! 😁 Keep fighting the good fight everyone! Enjoy the weekend & wishing you best out there! #'s for the #'s #TheMattBarney #OneLove #TheMeatballs #GearGrinder #VideoGames #PirateRecruitersUniteUnderOneBanner

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Tip for publishing consideration submission to Midwest Games... tldr - Send info through our portal (https://lnkd.in/gWtKgpuU), not through email (or LI). I get that it's a little counter-intuitive...you might think you want to put your info right in front of the sourcing decision influencers' faces. But it's actually a disadvantage - especially those of you who are agents throwing multiple titles at us at once. The submission portal goes right to our database, and that database is there for a reason: to keep an organized and consistent record of all submissions in one place. I look through there all the time. I'm reminded of titles I may have overlooked or need to go back to consider as circumstances change all the time. We rarely, if ever, make immediate decisions or even quick deep review/consideration. Our factors for consideration shift regularly. I do not review your particular email regularly, or at some point even remember you sent one. I go to the database. Connection via other channels is good. Discussion about your game over other channels is good. But having your core game info in those channels is not good. Please use the submission portal!

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It’s unfortunate that many qualified individuals miss out on opportunities because they aren’t aware of positions suited to their skills. Enterprise companies often struggle to properly articulate their need for creative and interactive skill sets, which are similar to those in the gaming industry. Many times, they don't know how to accurately describe or validate these needs. When trying to build internal capabilities, positions are often mislabeled based on traditional standards, leading to confusion and missed connections. For instance, companies may assume a developer with Blender knowledge can serve as a 3D artist, which is not the case. Or they might label such a position as a designer or another term that a 3D artist wouldn’t typically search for. This mislabeling creates a disconnect between the job listing and the talent pool. Additionally, the recruitment process itself can be flawed. I’ve seen applications rejected based on the personal biases of recruiters who may not have an artistic background. This means many talented individuals never make it to the interview stage, which is disheartening. The issue lies not with the recruiters but with the organization’s inflexibility and outdated processes. Consider a retail company wanting to enter the metaverse or interactive 3D space. How should they proceed? Should they hire internally to manage the initiative, bring in consultants for strategy, or hire an external expert? And how can they ensure this external hire is capable of building a new department or capability if the person hiring them has no experience with that industry? Chicken and egg situation I guess. With so many people in need of work and companies eager to develop strong interactive, digital, and gaming capabilities, some guidance is crucial. Accurate job descriptions, better validation processes, and an adaptable organizational structure are key to bridging this gap. If your company is looking to navigate this complex landscape and needs help finding the right talent or structuring your team, get in touch. Might be able to provide the guidance you need to succeed.

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